Should You Use A Marketplace Like Etsy Or Create Your Own Online Store On Your Own Website?

When you’re first deciding on how to setup your online shop, you have to figure out what ecommerce platform you want to use. It can be a huge headache due to all of the choices out there.

Platforms like Etsy and StoreEnvy can be great ways to start, and they do actually have the option to add your own custom domain name for branding purposes.

The downside is that they’re more of a marketplace and store all in one rather than being a stand alone webstore solution. It’s similar to Amazon. You don’t have much control over your customers and the user experience when you pick these type of customers.

If you don’t own your own customer email list then you don’t own your business, simple as that. I’d shy away from using any ecommerce platform that doesn’t allow you to build your customer email list. Your list is the lifeblood of your business!

I recommend starting first with a webstore you own and have full control over, like Woocommerce or Shopify. You focus any marketing and advertising towards that shop.

Now, in order to leverage the more popular marketplaces like Etsy and Amazon, go ahead and list your products on those platforms too. I just wouldn’t drive any traffic to them from any external advertising or marketing, I’d just milk them for the builtin traffic that exists in those marketplaces already.